One of the largest local affiliates of the National Education Association, MCEA is working to build an education union that responds to the needs of today’s educators and communities. We are more than 12,000 classroom teachers, counselors, psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists, media specialists, and other non-supervisory certified educators in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools system. We work in a rapidly urbanizing suburban district with a growing divide between haves and have-nots. MCEA members teach and support 161,936 students in 205 schools spread over 497 square miles. The district has densely populated low-income urban neighborhoods, sprawling suburban subdivisions, and rural agricultural towns.